Safety in Numbers
by FrostedBites
Summary: Nuke oneshot. Slight AU where the cabin survivors briefly return to the house after they find Nick. Rated T for language.


The soft glow of moonlight filtered through the window and illuminated the small room. Shadows became confined to small corners, hiding behind the few objects within. Out of the two beds of the room, only one was occupied. A young man lay on the bed in the far side of the room. His hands were clasped behind the back of his head and his elbows pointed upward. A baseball cap perched on top of his head, slightly obscuring his blank stare at the ceiling. A small music box sat slightly to his left, as still and silent as he was. Occasionally he would steal a glance at the other bed beyond his feet and would roll his eyes up once more with a barely audible sigh.

There was a quiet tap at the door. A muffled "Nick?" received no answer. After a few seconds, the doorknob began to rustle until it turned and the door opened slowly. The small sliver of light that fell upon the bed quickly grew before taking over the majority of the room. Nick did not move. Luke pushed through the door and his shadow fell upon Nick's face.

"Hey, man, we gotta leave soon. You ready to go?"

Nick remained silent. Hesitantly, Luke stepped completely into the room and gently pushed the door behind him, which began to creak as it slowly closed. He crossed the room and sat at the foot of Nick's bed.

"I'm sorry... about Pete." Luke said quietly after a pause.

"Whatever."

"Are you feeling okay?"

"What do you think?" Nick's voice was suddenly full of irritation.

Luke did not respond, and a silence fell over the room. Eventually, Nick made his way to a sitting position and scooted next to Luke. "I'm... I'm sorry, man, I'm just tired of all of this happening. I mean, you get close to people, hell, maybe you're as lucky as I was to have family left, and before you know it, they're dead." His right hand found its way to the music box. "It's happened twice already." He brought the music box to his lap. He traced his fingers over the intricately carved details along the edges of the box.

Luke looked over to it. "Is that-"

"My mom's, yeah." Nick forced a smile and his hand dropped to his side. "She would play this thing all the time when I was a kid. Doesn't play very well anymore, though." His voice trailed off and his eyes remained fixed upon the music box.

Luke picked up the music box and opened the top; there was a small, empty compartment next to a closed off portion within. He tried to wind it up, and two faint, indistinguishable notes played before it stopped working. He tried again, but nothing played. He was not entirely surprised; Nick had played it every night it would work since the incident with his mother. He and Luke had shared a room for some time, and Luke lost count of the number of times he woke in the middle of the night to the sound of the soft notes. He didn't mind, nor did he ever say anything, as he knew Nick deserved whatever little comfort he could get, and the music box provided just that.

He set it gently to the side. "Well, let's bring this along with us, okay?"

"What's the point?"

"Well, I mean, it's kind of important to you and I don't see why we couldn't—"

"No, I mean what's the point of going?"

Luke paused. "Didn't you hear Clementine? Carver showed up and he'll probably be back soon. We gotta leave as soon as we can."

"Fine. You guys have fun out there. I'm staying here."

"Nick, don't be ridic—"

"I said I'm staying here. All I ever fucking do is get everyone around me killed. Hell, Pete would still be here if it weren't for me."

"Hey, hey, that's not true. It's not your fault he's gone. There was nothing you or Clementine could have done."

"She could have saved—"

"No, Nick, he was bitten. And you know what else? You saved Clementine. She would have died out there if you hadn't distracted those lurkers."

"She wouldn't have been out there in the first place if I—"

"Stop talking like that," Luke interrupted with growing frustration. "Yeah, I know it sucks, but it happened, and blaming yourself for everything won't change anything, alright?"

He looked up at Nick, who always tried to keep himself from showing much emotion beyond anger. Now, tears silently rolled down his face and fell softly to the bed. He slowly turned his head to face Luke, a pained expression etched onto his face. The moment Nick leaned slightly towards him, Luke threw his arms around him. Nick grabbed handfuls of the back of Luke's shirt and began sobbing into his shoulder, and Luke softly patted his back. Nick was trying to be as quiet as he could in fear of attracting attention, should anyone walk by, but continued to cry. "I'm s-sorry," he choked out. Luke pulled him in as tight as he could.

And he began to hum.

It only took the first four notes for Nick to realize that Luke was humming the song that once emanated from his mother's music box. Memories of life before the world collapsed flooded his memory; spending time with his parents, summers spent listening to his mother hum the tune while fixing dinner or reading or watching the stars with him on warm nights. Sitting outside, swatting at bugs, just being a kid. His mother never told him what song would play, nor did he ever find out, and he always thought it was just a dumb toy for kids.

Now that Luke was humming the slow tune, it was the most important song he had ever heard.

He brought himself back to the present and gradually calmed down, wishing the moment could last for a long, long time. But he knew it couldn't. The dead were walking just outside the house. Hell, that was the least of the group's problems. Still, moments like this were few and far in between, and Nick savored every second of it. He appreciated the warmth of the embrace against the cold air of the room and felt Luke's gentle voice hit every note of his childhood.

And, for the first time in a long time, Nick genuinely smiled.

As Luke reached the end of the song, he began to slow down the rhythm as if in an attempt to delay the end of the embrace. He held the last note, and Nick was the first to reluctantly let go, for he knew Luke was never the first to back away from hugs. He backed off an arm's length from Luke, who was looking back at him with a kind and gentle smile, and put a hand on his shoulder before realizing there was a small tear streak down the side of Luke's face. Luke placed a hand on Nick's. Before Nick could comment, Luke began to talk.

"Now don't ever talk about staying behind and getting yourself killed, alright? You're a hell of a lot more useful than you give yourself credit for. I don't wanna hear that again, okay?"

Nick gave a slight nod and wiped his cheeks. "Whatever you say, man."

Luke stood up, Nick's hand sliding off of his shoulder slowly. He strolled across the room, reached for the door handle and, before he opened the door, he turned his head slightly.

Then, words Nick never believed he would hear.

"Besides, I can't do this without you."

The door clicked shut.

**A/N: Hey guys! This is the first bit of fanfiction that I've ever published! I sent it to a few friends and people seemed to like it so I figured I'd give this a shot. I really like this pairing (even though they're both probably gonna die eventually) but yeah thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! :D Reviews and such are greatly appreciated!  
**


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